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MX2, Kegums, KEGUMS (LAT), 15 April 2018

Podium for Jed Beaton in Portugal

Jed Beaton of the F&H Racing Team put his Kawasaki KX250F on the podium with third place in the Portuguese round of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship at Agueda.

The Australian had already shown his liking for the track, rendered technically extremely difficult by recent heavy rainfall in the region, when he raced to third place in qualification and he continued the fine form in the two races when world championship points were at stake. Jed used his choice of gate wisely to make top four starts in both GP motos and this gave him an excellent base to race for the podium. After holding third place for the first six laps of the opening moto he advanced to second for two laps before surrendering that place to the defending world champion but defied all other challengers to finish third. Race two followed a similar pattern as he gated fourth and moved to third place for six laps before relinquishing one position which did not affect his surge towards the overall podium. The thirty-eight points haul from the weekend sees him advance to fifth place in the series standings.
 
Jed Beaton: “It's always good to be on the podium; that's what we all aim for! The track was tough but I started with a good qualification on Saturday; the ground was really soft after all the rain they have had here and there were many ruts but I like the technical tracks and had a lot of fun riding here. Everything gelled together and I really enjoyed this weekend. My season is building with the help of the team and Kawasaki and I feel like I'm getting better on all sorts of track. It was a nice surprise to make the podium already here at the fifth round of the series and for sure we will continue to progress further."
 
Beaton's F&H teammates Adam Sterry and Ruben Fernandez also showed fine form to join him in the top ten of the GP classification. Sterry had a solid ride to sixth place in the first moto after starting seventh and followed this up in race two with a hard-fought ninth place to earn seventh overall on the day, while Fernandez was also impressive as he took twelfth place in the opening moto and thirteenth in race two for tenth overall, his best result to date in his rookie GP season.
 
BUD Racing Monster Energy Kawasaki's Pierre Goupillon surrendered his leadership in the European EMX2 series after two turbulent races in which he suffered falls, the second one caused when another rider landed on his back, but the French youngster showed character to secure eighth place overall from 13-6 moto finishes and remains second in the series, just eight points from the new pacesetter. Teammate Brian Strubhart Moreau also fell in the first moto to finish seventeenth but had an excellent second moto ride to advance from sixth to third to earn seventh place over the weekend and advance to tenth in the series standings.